Warmth in Winter
by lena-jade
Summary: Machi's thoughts on perfection and a certain someone...and a promise being fulfilled at the end. Vignette. Chapter 102 spoilers. [Yuki x Machi]


**Warmth in Winter**

**By Lena-jade**

**

* * *

**

**A/N**: I don't own Fruits Basket. Anyway, here's a short Yuki x Machi vignette containing chapter 102 spoilers (it's a sweet little chapter--the ending is the best). I'm very fond of the pairing--I know there're a lot of people who don't like this pairing, but I think they balance each other in a lot of ways that make them very good for each other. I'd appreciate constructive criticism :). Hope all those Yuchi fans like me out there like it.

Oh yes, reviews may be answered on my homepage.

**

* * *

**

Nobody ever knew me.

Nobody even bothered trying.

There was no warm hand to help me out of the endless abyss I was trapped in. Everyone already had made up their judgments about me and there was nothing I could do or say to redeem myself. I was always trying to be who my parents wanted me to be—and no matter how hard I strived to meet my mother's expectations and demands—I was not perfect. No matter what.

So why try, I thought? Why try—when there was no way I would be the image of perfection? The perfect looks, the perfect personality, the perfect heir… Why not just let people go on with their incorrect conclusions about me—when nothing I would ever say or do would persuade them, to believe me?

Why bother trying to satisfy everyone's thoughts of who I was supposed to be when I would, never, ever in this face of earth, match their expectations? To do meet up to their ideal of "perfection," was an impossible feat.

Perfect...perfection…

How much I hated and feared those words.

Like the smooth, straight, perfectly sized chalks in a little box. Like the neat, clean, spick-and-span rooms—with its spotless walls and glossy tiles. Like the little, china porcelain doll my aunt had given to me on my birthday when I was a mere girl. Like the snow-covered ground covering up the faults of the street, dirt and other trash underneath…how crystal-clear and…fake it was…how I hated it…cursing its existence whenever I watched the snow fall.

Until I met him.

The first time I saw him, I saw that look of shy loneliness mirror my own. I saw, not a prince, but somebody who was not what everyone expected him to be. All the students in the school thought he was perfect—beautiful, intelligent, tall, athletic, wealthy, popular and so on…

I knew it couldn't be so.

I saw a human—with natural flaws, who had troubles and problems with his own. He was not a prince, merely human. Somebody who had a look of isolation and carried a heavy shadow—and somebody who was perfect had not a look like that.

But as the months went by, that shyness faded, as did that loneliness. He had changed…becoming more outgoing and less lonely, even if it was still there. I hid back in my shell.

But he wouldn't let me.

Sohma Yuki.

He would always try to get to know me, and try to be…_friends _with me. And he understood...so well, too well. He was the warm hand that helped me out, and lifted me out of the endless perfection of blackness.

I rebelled against his kind words and gestures, but he broke down my icy defenses, one by one, gradually…like the melting of the snow in spring when the sun came out with its gentle rays.

I watched the snowflakes fall down in a spiral, overshadowing the imperfect ground underneath it with its white, clean expansion as it always did every year. But this time, I watched it with interest. For the first time in my life, I felt a tiny spark of excitement inside my heart. Something I haven't felt before when I watched the snow.

There was a knock on my door.

My heart lifted. Could it be…? I shook my head. Such hopes would only be in vain. Even as my mind thought this, my feet ran quickly to answer the door.

"Machi!" the voice I knew very well greeted politely and eagerly at the same time. It was him. His normally white cheeks were flushed with a healthy rosy-ness—framed by a halo of silver strands of hair.

"What do you want?" I asked dully, trying to keep the excitement out of my voice.

He smiled, not at all discouraged at my seemingly lack of emotion. "Don't you remember, Machi? Last year I promised you that we would go make footprints on the snow together."

_He remembered…_I thought, feeling a happiness rise within me like a sip of hot cocoa after a cold, bitter winter night. Like the sun shining, announcing its arrival in its warmth and blessing. "I'll…be out," I answered.


End file.
